Oakland A’s fall 9-6 to Boston Red Sox

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Boston Red Sox's Mike Napoli, second from right, celebrates his grand slam with teammates David Ortiz, right, and Dustin Pedroia as Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris, left, watches during the fifth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Boston Red Sox's Shane Victorino gets back to second base safely after an error on a fielders choice by Oakland Athletics second baseman Andy Parrino, holding the ball, during the fifth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher A.J. Griffin walks on the mound after giving up a three-run home run to Boston Red Sox's Will Middlebrooks, rear, during the fourth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Boston Red Sox's Mike Napoli watches his grand slam home run with Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris during the fifth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Boston Red Sox's Will Middlebrooks rounds the bases after his three-run home run off of Oakland Athletics starting pitcher A.J. Griffin, rear left, during the fourth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

BOSTON — Baseball promotes the liberal use of perspective, as the A’s 9-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday underscored.

The loss was the A’s fourth in succession, their longest losing streak in the very early stages this season, so things were not all lightness and joy in the Fenway Park visitors clubhouse. The A’s hold on first place in the A.L. West is gone, as is the karma that helped them win nine of their first 11 games.

Here’s the perspective part — 20 games into the season a year ago, the A’s were 10-10 and already 5﻿1/2 games out of first place. Now they are 12-8 and barely out of first.

So things are better than they were at this point a year ago, and the A’s wound up winning the A.L. West in 2012.

“To not start April the way we wanted to, we’ve been there,” right fielder Josh Reddick said. “And we came back.”

Reddick is starting to come back, at least a little. Flirting with a sub-.100 batting average heading into his second at-bat Sunday against Tampa Bay, he singled home the A’s only run in that one. Monday brought more of the same: an RBI single in the second inning and, two strikeouts later, an RBI double during the A’s three-run eighth.

“That’s something to build off of,” Reddick said. “In the first at-bat I was able to stay inside on the ball and get the run home. Then in the last at-bat I was able to go the other way and keep the rally going.”.

Third baseman Josh Donaldson is going through the same fight, although he is a little further along. He was batting .120 seven games into the season, but he is 16 for 49 (.327) since then to get to .264. His double set up Reddick’s RBI single in the second inning, and Donaldson doubled home two runs in the eighth.

“When you get guys on base, you have to drive them in,” Donaldson said. “In Tampa, we didn’t do that. Tonight, we did a couple of times, not some other times. We still lost the game, we came up short, but at the end of the day we can take those at-bats into tomorrow.”

The A’s have struggled since the schedule took them away from A.L. West competition. They are 11-2 against the West, 1-6 against everyone else.

The A’s are averaging .177 against the rest of baseball after hitting .291 against the West. A’s pitchers have allowed seven innings of three or more runs — two of them Monday — in seven games against non-West competition.

And there was only one hit from anyone not named Josh on Monday.

The defense needs to get better, too. An error by second baseman Andy Parrino set up a decisive grand slam for Boston’s Mike Napoli in the fifth inning, and an error at first base by Brandon Moss set up another run.

So it isn’t just the hitting that has gone south, but the hitters are leading the way. It’s up to them to lead the way back, too.

“The good thing tonight is that when we got down, we didn’t just lie down,” Reddick said. “Getting back in the game like that was huge.”

Getting back in the win column would be, too. It would do wonders for perspective.

The A’s traded for outfielder Casper Wells, sending cash to the Toronto Blue Jays. Wells should be in uniform Tuesday, which means Michael Taylor will be sent down to Triple-A Sacramento. It will be difficult to keep Wells for long, with Yoenis Cespedes likely to come off the disabled list after injury rehab games this weekend.

To make room for Wells on the 40-man roster, Scott Sizemore (ACL surgery, left knee) was transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day D.L.

Nate Freiman, who was brought up in Boston, was in the lineup Monday and couldn’t have more thrilled.

“Quite literally it is a dream come true,” Freiman said before taking the field.

Left-hander Brett Anderson (sprained right ankle) is feeling no ill-effects, so he seems good to start Wednesday’s series finale.

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